Sheet of folded material



Patented July 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,501,662 PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL H. HORWITT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 INDEPENDENT PAPERHILLS INC., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SHEET or FOLDED MATERIAL.

Application filed July 21, 923. Serial No. 652,940.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, PAUL H.'H0RWITT, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvement in Sheets of Folded Material, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to an improvement in sheets of foldedmaterial, and more particularly to sheets of paper or similar substancesadapted for use as napkins, towels and like articles. I am aware thatheretofore sheets of papers, for example, for the purposes'indicatedhave been folded in various manners. In some instances, for example, thepaper sheets have been folded into rectangular strips and placed insuperimposed piles with alternate strips or napkins and similararticlesin transverse or crosswise positions in order to be adapted for use in adispensing device with the object of causing the user to take onearticle at a time therefrom. In other instances as a further examplesheets of paper have been folded and succeeding sheets caused to beinterlaced or interlapped so that when placed in a re ceptacle onemember of the outermost sheet may be caused to extend through an openingtherein and when the outermost article is withdrawn from the receptaclethrough the opening therein it automatically carries with it the outerpart or member of the next succeeding article. In no instance, however,so far as I am aware has a sheet of material whether paper or otherwisebeen so folded as to be adapted in .use when placed in a superimposedpile to be unfolded in and by the act of grasping and lifting the sheetso that the napkin or towel is then ready for use and at the same timeso folded as to be adapted to cause the user to take but one napkin,towel or other similar article from the superimposed pile at one time.

The object of my present invention, therefore, is the provision of asheet of folded material for use as a napkin, towel or similar articleso folded as to enable the user to readily grasp onearticle at a time,and in lifting the same for removing it from a suitable dispenser inwhich a superimposed pile of the articles may be placed the articlewhether it be a napkin, towel or similar article is unfolded by the actof grasping and lifting the same .so that no additional effort isrequired in unfolding the article for use irrespective of the purposefor which it is to be employed.

In carrying out the invention the sheet of paper or similar material tobe used as a napkin or towel or other similar article is folded alongsubstantially parallel lines and preferably in opposite directions so asto provide therein a plurality of centrally disposedcoextensive sectionsand an end section or sections of less extent which, when the article isin position to be taken by the user, are outermost so that the edgethereof may be readily grasped and the article raised or withdrawn froma dispenser or other receptacle which act, as hereinbefore stated and aswill be hereinafter more particularly described, causes the article toopen or unfold so that it will then be ready for use.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan of a sheet of paper or other material showing the linesalong which the same is folded in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view article completely folded.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a package of articles foldedin accordance with my invention and bundled for use, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the manner in which the sheetof paper unfolds when suitably grasped and removed from the pile ortaken from the dispenser in which a bundle of the articles may beplaced.

In carrying out the invention the blank sheet of paper or other materialto be used as a napkin, towel or other article may be of any desired ornecessary size and. as will be understood of any type or quality ofpaper or other material. In Fig. 1 I have illusshowing the trated asheetforming a blank from'which, 90

for example, the paper napkin is folded in accordance with my invention.This sheet is folded along predetermined substantially parallel linesindicated at 10 and 11, 12 and 13, 14 and 15 and 16'and 17. The lines 10and 11 are substantial continuations of each other as are the lines 12and 13, the lines 14 and 15 and the lines 16 and 17 In the blank asindicated in Fig. 1, there is also a centrally disposed fold line 18 atright angles to the fold lines hereinhefore described and to whichreference will be hereinafter made. when the sheet is provided withthese fold lines it is divided into a plurality of sections indicated at19 and 20, 21 and 22, 23 and 24,

25 and 26 and 27 and 28. As illustrated the sections are folded in onedirection along the lines 10 and 11 so that the obverse faces of thesections 19, 20, 21 and 22 come together; the sections are then foldedin the reverse direction along the lines 12 and 13 so that the reversefaces of sections 21 and 22 are juxtaposed to the reverse faces of thesections 23 and 24 respectively. Then again the sections are folded inthe other direction along the lines 14 and 15 so that the obverse facesof sections 23 and 24 are juxtaposed to the obverse faces of sections 25and 2G, and then the fold along the lines 16 and 17 is again made in anopposite direction so that the reverse faces of the sec tions 27 and 28lie against the reverse faces respectively of the sections 25 and 26.When the sheet is thus folded it forms a relatively long rectangulararticle which is then folded transversely along the fold lines indicatedat 18 in the blank to assume the form of the napkin or towel or otherarticle as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

It will be noted that in thus folding the sheet to form a napkin, towelor other article there is provided therein a plurality of inner orcentrally disposed coextensive sections 21 to 26 inclusive and endsections 19 and 20 and 27 and 28 which are appreciably smaller than theother sections. As illustrated these end sections are of substantiallyone-half the width of the intermediate sections, but as will beunderstood they may be of any desired and predetermined width. It willalso be understood that any desired number of central or intermediatesections may be employed and that the num' her as shown is merelyillustrative. Furthermore in carrying out the invention it is notnecessary to employ the non-coexten sive sections at both ends of theblank as but one of them will answer all intents and purposes in someinstances. The advantage, however, in employing the non-coextensivesections at both ends of the blank is that thereby it is immaterial inwhich direction the parts are folded on the fold line 18 because ineither event, that is whether folded in one direction or the other therewill be an outer non-coextensive section, the edge of which may begrasped in taking the napkin or other article for use.

This article, as hereinbefore described, whether a towel, napkin or someother article is preferably bundled as indicated in Fig. 3, thesuperimposed pile being desig nated at 29 and the tape or cord by whichthe pile is bundled designated at 30.

In the use of articles made in accordance with this invention a bundleor bundles of the same are preferably placed in a suitable dispenserfrom which they are withdrawn one at a time for use, although as will beunderstood the same efiect in unfolding the memes sheet is possiblewhether the folded article is taken from a dispenser or taken from asuperimposed pile of articles or merely lifted by it elf from a suitablesupport. In the use of the article the same is grasped along the edge ofthe outermost end section as indicated in Fig. 4 and raised or removedfrom the dispenser which act causes the napkin or similarly foldedarticle to automatically unfold and to be thus ready for use without anyadditional effort or trouble in unfolding the article.

In folding sheets of paper or other material as hereinbefore describedfor use as napkins, towels and similar articles it will be understoodthat irrespective of the size of the blank from which the article isfolded, which of course depends upon the desired size of the article,the folded article may be of a uniform. standard comparatively smallsize. In the use of the invention as practiced, the article is folded topractically 3% x 7 inch dimension, and the sheets may be folded so thatwithin any reasonable limit a sheet of any desired size may be reducedto this dimension in order to be distributed from a standard containeror dispenser. It will furthermore be noted that in folding a sheet ashereinbefore described the articles as folded may be placed in asuperimposed regularly formed pile and. that it is unnecessary to placethe folded articles in any particular manner in the pile, and thatirrespective of the way in which the articles are arranged in the pilethe feature of providing a pile from which one article at a time istaken is present and that at the .same time, as hereinbefore stated, inremoving an article from the pile the act of removal opens or unfoldsthe article so that the same is then ready for use.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sheet of material folded into a plurality of substantiallycoextensive sections, and an end section which is non-coextensive withthe other sections, the sheet being then folded transversely to causethe non-coextensive end section to lie along one edge at the top andbottom thereof.

2. A sheet of material folded into aplurality of substantiallycoextensive rectangular sections, and end rectangular sections which arenon-coextensive with the other sections and then folded transversely ina substantially central position to bring one non-coextensive endsection on the outer side along one edge and the other non-coextensiveend section on the inside along the other edge of the article thusformed whereby in grasping the edge portion of the outermostnon-coextensive section and raising the same the sheet thus folded willunfold itself.

Signed by me this 20th day of Jul 1923.

PAUL H. HOB ITT.

DISCLAIMER.

1,501,662.-Paul H. H orwz'tt, Brooklyn, N. Y. SHEET 0F FOLDED MATERIAL.Patent dated July 15, 1924. Disclaimer filed June 24, 1927, by theassignee, Independmt Paper Mills Inc.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to the said claim No. 1 in the saidspecification,-

which is in the followin Words, to wit:

A sheet of material folded into a plurality of substantially coextensivesections, and an end section which is non-coextensive with the othersections, the sheet being then folded transversely to cause thenon-coextensive end section to lie along one edge at the top and bottomthereof. [Oficz'al Gazette Jukz 19, 19%.]

